


When Hope Is Gone

by ExhaustedCommonSense



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: OC's - Freeform, Tarsus IV, Young Father
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-16
Updated: 2015-05-16
Packaged: 2018-03-30 20:51:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3951295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExhaustedCommonSense/pseuds/ExhaustedCommonSense
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The survivors of Tarsus IV couldn't bear to be separated from the new family they'd created, so once they were rescued from the death filled planet, they ran away. </p><p>Or</p><p>How James T. Kirk, at age fifteen, became a father to eight children.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A quick heads up to say that I have changed how old some people were when they were on Tarsus IV.

**“The revolution is successful. But survival depends on drastic measures. Your continued existence represents a threat to the well-being of society. Your lives mean slow death to the more valued members of the colony. Therefore, I have no alternative but to sentence you to death. Your execution is so ordered, signed Kodos, Governor of Tarsus IV.** ”

James had been outside with his neighbours’ son when the announcement came. He’d been on his way to one of the towns shops in the hope that the walk would settle the baby when the horrible words echoed around the planet. The screams started nearly immediately afterwards while he stood numb in the same place.

**“Sentence you to death.”** James was only fifteen. He wasn’t ready to die, certainly not because some governor thought that he should. By the time the soldiers got to where Jim had been stood, some survival instinct had kicked in and he’d run, still clutching hold of the child.

He’d been resentful when his Aunt had told him to help out their neighbours by looking after the six month old little boy, but as he ran to a nearby forest where he hoped to find safety, he was just glad that he wasn’t completely alone. Less than halfway through the forest, he all but ran into another group of kids; two girls and a boy.

“You speak any Standard?” James asked shakily. He knew that there were people from all over Earth on the planet.

“Yes,” the eldest girl answered. She had a foreign accent and all three of the children had tear tracks on their faces. “I am Melania Rosales and this is my little brother, Federico. The girl does not speak.”

“I’m James Kirk,” he introduced himself. “And this is Kevin Riley, my neighbour.”

“Our parents told us to run,” Melania sniffed. “I think they are dead.”

“I ran before I could find out,” James admitted, feeling the burning shame that he hadn’t even thought about his family before running. “Why don’t you stay with us? We could help each other.”

Melania gave him a watery smile, holding onto her little brother’s hand as she stepped closer to him. The little girl trailed behind her, still crying silently. James knelt down in front of her and smiled.

“Hey,” he soothed, pointing at himself. “James,” he said clearly before pointing at her.

“James,” she repeated with a strong accent before realization lit up her eyes and she pointed at herself. “Katenka Kozlov.”

James gave a sigh of relief and smiled before introducing the girl to the others. When he stood back up to keep moving, Katenka took a hold of the hand that wasn’t holding onto Kevin. Melania and her brother walked with them in silence, wincing when the screams for the towns echoed around the quiet trees.

Eventually, when they were drooping in sleepiness and James had decided they’d walked far enough, they started looking around for somewhere to sleep. Federico was the one to find the cave; the three year old had wandered away slightly and when his sister had gone to get him he’d been by the cave.

It was quite a deep cave, more than big enough for them. Silently, James passed Kevin off to Melania who settled the others into the cave while James started moving bushes and tree branches to hide the entrance to the cave.

Once settled, they shared out the small snacks that they had in their pockets while James managed to get Kevin to swallow some water. Melania told him that she was nine years old, while her brother was only three. Katenka held up four fingers when she realized what they were talking about and James already knew that Kevin was only six months, not even a full year old yet.

It was daunting to think that at fifteen years old, James was now the eldest of the group and in charge of keeping them safe and alive. The second oldest was Melania, but even she looked to him for help and was too young; they wouldn’t survive on their own.

After a restless night’s sleep, filled with nightmares and growling stomachs, James made Melania promise to stay in the cave and keep the others quiet while he went out to try find some food. She was nervous about it, but accepted Kevin from him and urged the other two to sit next to her.

Unfortunately, James knew that the best place to find supplies was going to be in a nearby town; he just had to hope that the soldier had cleared out or that they didn’t spot him. He started on the outskirts of one of the towns, confident that he could find his way back to the others.

The first items he stole were two backpacks that he immediately started filling one with food and water. He tried his hardest not to look at the bodies of the owners of the houses he broke into; he didn’t want to see what fate would await him if he got caught. Next, he hunted around until he found a couple of blankets that he put in another one, nearly shouting with glee when he found some baby formula in one of the replicators.

He was just sneaking back out of the town when he heard the crying. Ducking down in case the noise drew the soldiers he’d seen in the middle of town, he snuck towards the sound. All of his instincts were telling his to take the bags and run, but he couldn’t leave if the person crying was still alive; he had to try to help.

Somehow, he managed to find the source of the noise; a little boy was sitting by a woman’s body, his face was cut terribly on the left side and he was sobbing silently. Hearing that the soldiers were beginning to move, James dashed forward and picked the boy up, quickly turning and running back to the forest, surprised when the boy didn’t make a sound at being taken.

“Hey, my name is James Kirk, and I’m going to look after you,” James whispered to him as they went. “Do you understand?” The boy nodded against his shoulder, burying his head into his neck. “Right, good. What’s your name then?”

“Thomas,” the boy croaked, not lifting his head. “Thomas Leighton…I’m five.”

James nodded, too tired to try responding; he had the two backpacks strapped to his back and Thomas was barely balanced on his hip. By the time they made it back to the cave, James was completely exhausted and felt really sick; he’d walked a long way holding onto a lot of weight on an empty stomach.

The others were happy to welcome Thomas; they were glad that there were others who survived. James was just relieved that they were still too young to realize that every new person was another mouth to feed.

Over the next week, James managed to save three more children from being killed: Edwin Cavey, a seven year old French boy, Loretta Sarno, a five year old Italian girl, and Oliver Croft, a six year old American boy. They were the only ones to survive; James wasn’t sure how he knew it, but somehow he was sure that he wasn’t going to find anyone else. The small hope he’d kept that they’d find an adult died; if he wanted to keep the children alive, he’d have to be the adult.

After a month together in the cave, each child began to slowly learn words from each other’s languages. James and Thomas were the only ones to speak Standard fluently since James was American and Thomas was English. The others learnt Standard the quickest out of the need to understand what James said, though James also learnt the other languages as well.

Unknowingly, by trying so hard to be there for the children and providing for them, James was quickly replacing the male figure that they’d had in their lives. Their brains were slowly blocking out their past lives in an attempt to save themselves from further grief, and so they were focusing on the only one who reminded them of a protective figure.

Federico, as the youngest capable of speech, was the first one to address James as “Papá”, the Spanish for ‘Dad’. Both James and Melania cried that day but no one refuted it. Melania mourned the loss of her family for one final time before she too shoved the memories aside and began to address James the same way. The other children soon caught on; calling James their language’s version of ‘Dad’ until even James began to think of them as his own.

They survived like that for what felt like years but were in reality months. Each day they’d grow skinnier, but between themselves they forged unbreakable bonds that were stronger than that of blood families.

James organized for them to speak one language every day to help them learn it and to distract them. They changed the language every day until they knew that basics of Russian, Italian, French, Spanish and Standard. It had taken a while, but James had eventually learned that Katenka was Russian.

The face of the man that had ordered their deaths was burnt into James’s and Melania’s minds; it haunted their nightmares and made them jump at shadows. They were the only two old enough to remember what he looked like as he read out the announcement on every screen, but Melania promised that she’d find a way to show the others what he looked like so they would know.

In the end, she came with him once on a raid while they left Edwin in charge. She went straight to one of the government buildings while James kept watch and brought back a PADD with a photo of Kodos on it. She’d been terrified that he would find a way to trick the other children; apparently she’d been having nightmares that they’d trust him because he was an adult. They spent ages hammering it into the children’s head that if they saw him then they were to run, until even Kevin started crying when he saw the photo.

They continued like that for a long time; James learnt to hunt for animals and to find edible plants when he couldn’t find enough to steal. Impossibly, he managed to keep them alive. They were incredibly malnourished and far too skinny, but they were alive and loved and most of them couldn’t remember any other way of life.

They had no idea how long it had been by the time help arrived. All they knew were that these adults found them and put them on a ship, saying how they were going to take them home and find their families. They said they were with the Federation and they couldn’t understand why the children fought against them.

James and Edwin had managed to injure two of the people who’d come to hurt them, but when one of them found Loretta the others immediately surrendered so that they wouldn’t be split up. Once on the ship that was going to take them back to Earth, it was explained to them what was going to happen to them.

“They’re going to split us up,” Katenka whispered sadly, clutching onto Loretta’s arm. “We’ll be on different countries from each other.”

“No,” Melania growled fiercely, hugging Thomas and Federico closer to her. She wouldn’t be separated from her blood brother, but there was no doubt that the Federation would split them up from the new family they’d created. They were going to be sent to live with family on Earth.

“I don’t want to leave,” Edwin sniffed. “Papa, can’t we stay with you?”

James sighed and ran a hand through his hair; the other one was holding Kevin safely against his chest. “I wish you could, but they won’t let you.”

“Then we’ll run away,” Melania announced, the others perking up at the idea. “As soon as we can, we’ll run and find each other.”

James paled at the idea; none of them would get back to him, they’d get lost or worse. He couldn’t let his children take such a risk, just the thought of it made him sick. Thinking quickly, he had a quick look around the room they were in, making sure that there were no cameras before he pulled out the PADD that they’d stolen all those weeks ago.

The others gathered around him when they realized he had a plan, instinctively shielding him from sight while Melania took Kevin so he could use both hands. James had always been good with technology; he was considered a child genius for a reason, even if he didn’t act like it.

The Federation people had mentioned that they’d put some compensation credits into their accounts that only they would be able to access until they had official guardians again, so the first thing James did was hack into his own account and transfer everything in it to another account. He did the same thing with the others accounts, moving everything into the same account that only they would be able to access.

Once the credits were moved, the Federation wouldn’t be able to access it without going through many privacy laws. Since they now had money at their disposal, James began to lay out a plan for them, starting by buying nine tickets to Atlanta. He choose that city because they’d expect him to go home to Iowa and because it was far away from both his home town and from San Francisco where Starfleet had its base.

After their safe landing in San Francisco, they were ushered to a private hospital where they refused to have separate medical checks. Once it became clear that they weren’t going to change their minds, the doctors examined them all together and told them what James already knew: they were malnourished.

They were told to wait in the waiting room until someone came to collect them; their families had been notified and were most likely on their way. Nervously, James asked one last time if they were all sure they didn’t want to leave with their relatives before he picked up Kevin and snuck them all out of the building.

Somehow, they made it out. They’d almost been caught multiple times, but James had bluffed or charmed his way out of every meeting and succeeded on getting them on the shuttle, only feeling safe once it was safely on its way towards Atlanta.

“Are we safe now, папа?” Katenka asked sleepily, curling up with Loretta as they shared a chair for comfort.

“Nearly,” James promised, bouncing Kevin as he woke up and feeding him some milk that he’d pinched off the food trolley in the hospital. Kevin never cried anymore; he seemed to understand that his cries put them in danger.

Melania smiled, holding Federico on her knee as she watched Thomas, Edwin and Oliver make a game up using things they found around them like water bottles and tissues. James was just glad that they could still smile and play after everything that had happened.

As the shuttle travelled across the country, James set about buying somewhere for them to live where they wouldn’t be bothered and no one would look at their ages. He managed to find a place he thought was acceptable, but he was planning on going back to Riverside as soon as he was eighteen; by then he would be able to formally adopt the children.

Using more than a few black-market moves, they moved into their new apartment with no problems. James and Kevin shared one room while the three girls got one room and the four remaining boys got the other. After sharing a cave together for so long, none of them minded the close quarters, in fact they were sometimes found all camped out in the living room because the closeness made them feel safer.

No reports were made about them being missing; only the higher up officials knew that they weren’t where they should be. As the only nine people still alive that had seen Kodos, the Federation had decided that they had to be protected. Thankfully, they managed to disappear completely from the system, no one, no matter how high up, found anything even vaguely relating to them.

Until, that is, three years later when one James T. Kirk, now going by the name Jim, posted officiated adoption forms on his eighteenth birthday. As no one knew any differently, these forms were approved and Jim and his now official children moved back to his birth town before the Federation could even realize what had happened or try to stop it.


	2. Chapter 2

Jim had bought a nice house for him and his children and managed to get a shop working shifts at a local bar during the night and at a mechanics shop during the day. He’d enrolled all of the children into school. Unsurprisingly, they managed to catch up even though they’d been behind on their education; Jim had taught them as much as he could and they were all bright kids.

As for Jim himself, he’d spent the three years when they’d been hiding out in Atlanta doing online university level courses. By the time he’d been ready to get a job, he was more than qualified, but needed something close to home to look after the kids.

“Papà!” Loretta shouted, running forward to hug him as she came out of school, followed by Thomas and Oliver. “The other kids were making fun of Tom again so Oli punched them.”

“Ettie!” Thomas and Oliver complained. “You said you wouldn’t tell!”

Jim sighed; Thomas’s face had healed from the scratches he’d received before Jim had found him, but his face was still horribly scarred on his left side; it was a miracle that his eye was okay. Jim had already spoken to the teachers about the bullying, but if they didn’t see it happening then there was nothing they could do.

“Your teachers would have told me anyway,” Jim said before they could start arguing. “How much trouble are you in, Oli?”

“I don’t get to go out at break times for a week,” he grumbled before brightening up. “It was worth it though, they’ll leave Tom alone now and Ed said he’d stay inside with me.”

As if summoned by his name, Edwin came out of the building and started walking towards them, Federico and Katenka following behind him. Ed seemed amused by something while the other two seemed to be having some sort of argument.

“Kat stole the teachers name plate,” Federico told them all solemnly while Katenka glared at him, clutching her schoolbag to her chest protectively.

“You’re a tattletale, Rico,” she accused. “Oli wouldn’t have told”

“Oli’s lost his break-time privileges,” Jim spoke up. “I don’t think he’s the best example.”

“Can I keep it, папа?” Katenka begged, looking at him with big innocent eyes. “Please.”

“Did anyone see you take it?” Jim asked with a laugh. He knew that he wasn’t the greatest role model, especially after all of the robbery he’d had to do to survive on Tarsus IV, but other than a few naughty mishaps that were normal for children; his kids seemed to have turned out just fine.

“Only Rico,” Katenka answered. “But he won’t tell!”

“I won’t,” Federico agreed, the beginnings of a smile playing around his lips.

“Fine,” Jim chuckled. “Keep it. But don’t let anyone else find out you have it.”

“Yes!” Katenka and Federico cheered, immediately joining the others to show off their new toy. Jim was a little worried that the others might follow their example, but he didn’t think they would; they wouldn’t want to copy someone else’s idea and they knew not to be so obvious. It was more likely that one of them would pinch something completely unrelated in a few weeks’ time.

“Papá,” Melania yelled out, causing their group to turn towards her as she came striding over with a grin, holding Kevin in her arms while he squirmed to be let down. “Sorry I’m late; Kev didn’t want to leave straight away.”

“It’s fine, Mel,” Jim shrugged. “I don’t start work for a few hours yet. Let’s just get back home and get something to eat, yeah?”

The others agreed and happily followed him onto the shuttle that would take them to near their house. They could travel the shuttle on their own as most of the other kids did, but Jim always went with them on a morning and night because he was worried and they preferred him to be there too. From the stop, it was a short walk to the house that was in the middle of nowhere.

Jim immediately got to work cooking while the kids started their homework, Melania helping them out as she was the eldest child, at age twelve. It had taken a while, but they had at last managed to gain back the weight that they’d lost on Tarsus IV. It helped that Jim had become determined to learn how to cook until there were nearly no traces of what they’d been through. The only clues that they’d ever lacked food were how they all still stashed food in their bags.

With food eaten and homework done, Jim settled the children into bed and gave the usual warning to not leave the house. He then put on all of the house alarms before leaving; the alarms were connected to his phone, so he’d know the minute anything happened. Jim used his motorbike to get to the pub where he worked, trusting that his kids would be safe; it was certainly safer in Riverside than it was on Tarsus IV.

They kept this routine for another seven years, until on the tenth year anniversary for the date that Kodos made his announcement, things changed. Every year on that date, Jim had gone to the pub and gotten drunk. This year, Jim and his kids had had a private mourning ceremony for the family they’d lost ten years ago and then Melania and Edwin had had a drink with Jim before ushering the children inside so that their father could leave.

Jim didn’t like leaving them, but they knew that he needed that night to be free and not have any responsibilities for one night. When he back the next morning he was either bruised after a fight or smug because he’d found someone to go home with. As the others didn’t really remember that day, they didn’t feel the need to let go like Jim did; they all mourned in their private ways as they knew what had happened that day, but then they continued like it was any other day.

As usual for the anniversary, Jim got into a fight, this time with a group of Starfleet cadets. He’d planned to not get into a fight, but instead go home with the very attractive cadet he’d been talking to before the others had interrupted, but he didn’t really mind too much. However, he wasn’t expecting to be cornered by Captain Pike afterwards.

“I couldn’t believe it when the bartender told me who you were,” Pike said, looking at him with some emotion that he couldn’t read.

“And who am I, Captain Pike?” Jim asked, wondering silently if this was about his kids or his father. As far as Starfleet were concerned, they were the only two things that defined him, or at least his last name; his kids had decided to hyphenate their own last names with his so that they’d still have a connection to their past lives if they ever wanted it.

“Your father's son,” Pike smiles while Jim internally rolls his eyes; he mustn’t have had high enough clearance to know about Tarsus IV then. “For my dissertation, I was assigned the U.S.S. Kelvin. Something I admired about your dad, he didn't believe in no-win scenarios.”

“He sure learned his lesson,” Jim retorted, even though he was pretty sure that that was something he had in common with his Dad, especially after everything life had thrown at him.

“Depends on how you define winning. You're here, aren't you?” Pike huffed a sigh. “That instinct to leap without looking, that was his nature, too. And in my opinion it's something Starfleet has lost.”

“Why are you talking to me?” Jim finally asked. He was tired of talking in circles, he just wanted to go home and sleep off his hangover so that he could take his kids to school and organize more online classes for those who’d finished school.

“I looked up your file while you were drooling on the floor. Your aptitude tests were off the charts, what is it, do you like being the only Genius Level repeat-offender in the Midwest?” Pike looked genuinely interested in his answer.

“Maybe I love it,” Jim replied evenly. It was true in a way, he may not have liked the repeat offender bit, but he did love how his genius IQ let him provide a life for his children while still being able to be there for them; he may not have the most glamorous jobs, but no one could ever say he wasn’t there for his kids.

“So your Dad dies, you can settle for a less-than-ordinary life,” Pike waited for a reaction, continuing when it was clear Jim wasn’t going to say anything. “Or do you feel like you're meant for something better? Something special? Enlist in Starfleet”

Jim choked on his new beer. “Enlist?” He repeated. “You must be way down on your recruiting quota for the month.”

“If you're half the man your father was, Jim, Starfleet could use you,” Pike was practically leaning forward as he spoke; he was so determined to convince Jim. “You could be an officer in four years, have your own ship in eight.”

“I can’t just up and join Starfleet,” Jim frowned, beginning to get angry but unwilling to admit that it could be because Pike was managing to get under his skin and make him want something else. “I got responsibilities to think about, I got my family.”

“Family?” Pike repeated, a puzzled look beginning to take over his features, this was clearly not the answer he was expecting. More than likely, he’d been expecting Jim to just leave.

“Yes,” Jim answered shortly. “I got my kids to think about, and I’m not going to just leave them, Kev’s only just gone ten this year.”

“You’re a father,” Pike blinked, clearly struggling to view him as some sort of role model when he was sat there covered in blood and smelling of booze. To be fair, the man managed to work through his confusion pretty quickly. “You can bring them with you; Starfleet will arrange housing for them and someone to stay with them.”

“My eldest is nineteen,” Jim said dryly. “She’s more than capable of looking after the others, they don’t need a sitter.”

“Even better,” Pike seemed to be getting his enthusiasm back as he realized Jim hadn’t said no. “Starfleet will house your kids somewhere near to the campus so that you can see them whenever you want.”

“You sure Starfleet can house eight kids?” Jim smirked. “They won’t want to be separated into different houses.”

Pike looked a little flummoxed by the amount of kids Jim had; it seemed that he hadn’t yet connected the fact that he’d said Melania was nineteen, and therefore couldn’t possibly be his biological daughter.

“Riverside shipyard. Shuttle for new recruits leaves tomorrow, 0800. I’ll organize something for your kids.” Pike nodded. “Your father was Captain of a Starship for twelve minutes. I dare you to do better.”

Jim rode home in a daze, going much slower than he normally would since he’d had a drink. He always rode his motorbike to and from the pub, but he always went a lot slower after a drink than he would have done sober. The pub was too far away from his home to walk, and he never took the shuttle because he needed to save the money for his kids to get their school shuttle.

Melania and Edwin were still awake when he got back in; they’d sent the other kids off to bed about an hour ago. Edwin activated the dermal regenerator that he’d been holding and set about healing Jim’s bruises, making Jim feel like a failure of a father; it was meant to be the dad that looked after his kids, not the other way around.

“I think I’m going to enlist in Starfleet,” his words echoed strangely around the quiet house. “There’s a shuttle for new recruits that leaves tomorrow.”

“I’ve always wanted to see San Francisco,” Melania murmured, smiling at him to show that she was sincere. Meanwhile Edwin finished healing the small injuries before nodding at Jim in agreement.

Relieved that they’d taken it so well, Jim kissed both their foreheads and then went to bed. In the morning, he told the rest of the children what was happening. Rather than be upset, they were all rather excited to go live in a big city, though they were upset that they wouldn’t get to go with him straight away.

After he’d said his goodbyes to everyone, Melania walked him to his bike. “Ed and I will pack up the house,” she told him. “I’m sure the others will help too, and then we’ll see you there in a week.” She smiled cheekily at him. “By that time, I’m sure you’ll have already checked over the house to make sure it’s safe for us.”

Jim kissed her forehead one last time before climbing onto his bike and setting off. He gave his bike away without a though when he arrived at the shipyard; he wouldn’t need it where he was going. The cadets from the night before weren’t pleased to see him again, but Jim was pretty sure that he’d made a good friend in the grumpy doctor who sat next to him.

**Author's Note:**

> The children and their ages at the time of the massacre:  
> James “Jim” Kirk = 15 (American)  
> Melania “Mel” Rosales = 9 (Spanish)  
> Edwin “Ed” Cavey = 7 (French)  
> Oliver “Oli” Croft = 6 (American)  
> Loretta “Ettie” Sarno = 5 (Italian)  
> Thomas “Tom” Leighton = 5 (English)  
> Katenka “Kat” Kozlov = 4 (Russian)  
> Federico “Rico” Rosales = 3 (Spanish)  
> Kevin “Kev” Riley = 6 months (American)


End file.
